Patients in Gombe state hospitals have appealed to the Federal Government to fulfill the demands of the resident doctors currently on a nationwide strike so that they will call it up and resume effective health care services to the public.
Some of the patients made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gombe on Tuesday.
Malam Muhammad Bomoi, a patient, told NAN that he was feverish for two days and decided to go to the hospital for treatment and heard of the strike.
According to him, he has no option than to go to a pharmacy to buy drugs for the treatment of malaria.
He appealed to the Federal Government to urgently consider the doctors’ demands to enable them to provide quality health care service in the country.
He also advised the resident doctors to also continue to be patient with government in terms of financial demands going by the current economic situation in the country.
Adamu Adamu, another patient on admission at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Gombe, said that he had surgery few days ago but he and other patients on admission did not see doctors for follow-up treatment since Monday.
“We are appealing to the Federal Government to come to our aid by acceding to the demands of the doctors.
“Our condition is critical, we need the doctors to monitor us to ensure quick recovery,” he said.
Bala Adamu, a patient’s relative, said that they were in a terrible situation in the hospital due to the strike as no doctor was attending to them.
He said their situation needed doctor’s attention and they had no option than to wait there and pray that they would soon attend to patients.
A correspondent of NAN who monitored the situation in Gombe reports that patients were seen on the hospital’s beds being attended to by nurses in the various wards.
Responding to the situation, Dr Umeyor Chinedu, President, Resident Doctors Association, Federal Teaching Hospital, Gombe, said that their branch had joined the strike as directed by the national body.
“We are part of the national, so we have no option than to join in the strike, because our demands have been the same in the last seven years,” he said.
According to him, since the resident doctors are on strike, the consultants will take care of the patients because they are not participating in the strike.
(Source: NAN)